How this formula works

The core of this formula is the SMALL function, which simply returns the nth smallest value in a list of values that correspond to row numbers. The row numbers have been "filtered" by the IF statement, which applies the logic for a match. Working from the inside out, IF compares all values in the named range "list" to the value in B5, which creates an array like this:

{TRUE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;TRUE;FALSE;TRUE}

The "value if true" is a set of relative row numbers created by this code:

With a logical test that returns an array of results, the IF function acts as a filter – only row numbers that correspond to a match survive, the rest return FALSE. The result returned by IF looks like this:

{1;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;5;FALSE;7}

The numbers 1, 5, and 7 correspond to the location of "red" in the list.

Finally, SMALL returns the nth smallest item in this list, ignoring FALSE values. In the example, F5 contains 2, so SMALL returns the 2nd smallest value: 5.

Combine with INDEX

Once you have the relative position of the nth match, you can use that position inside of INDEX to return an associated value.

To retrieve multiple matching values from a set of data with a formula, you can use the IF and SMALL functions to figure out the row number of each match and feed that value back to INDEX. In the example shown, the formula in I7 is: { = INDEX ( amts...

The Excel SMALL function returns numeric values based on their position in a list ranked by value. In other words, it can retrive "nth smallest" values - smallest value, 2nd smallest value, 3rd smallest value, etc.

The IF function can perform a logical test and return one value for a TRUE result, and another for a FALSE result. For example, to "pass" scores above 70: =IF(A1>70,"Pass","Fail"). More than one condition can be tested by nesting IF functions....

The Excel ROW function returns the row number for a reference. For example, ROW(C5) returns 5, since C5 is the fifth row in the spreadsheet. When no reference is provided, ROW returns the row number of the cell which contains the formula.

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Key functions

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